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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



THE GARDEN 

AND 

ITS ACCESSORIES 




A Summer-house enriched by Flowers and Foliage 



THE GARDEN 



AND ITS ACCESSORIES 



LORING UNDERWOOD 

WITH EXPLANATORY ILLUSTRATIONS 

From Phutwjraphs by the Author and others 




BOSTON 
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 

1907 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 

Two Copies Received 

NOV 24 1906 

c Copyright Entry 
CLASS A J^Xc.'.No. 

IUJ337. 

COPY B. 






Copyright, 1906, 
By Little, Brown, axd Company. 

^?Z rights reserved 
Published November, 1906 



THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAJIBKIDGE, U.S.A. 



TO 

THE MEMORY 
OF 

A fathp:r and ^IOTHER 

WHOSE LOVE OF GARDENS IMBUED IN ME 
A LIKE FONDNESS 

THIS BOOK 

IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED 



PREFACE 

THE writer of these pages does not 
presume that this book will teach 
those who love gardens how to 
carry out successfully the ornamentation of 
their grounds unaided. As well expect a 
book on painting to teach a lover of land- 
scapes how to paint his own picture. It 
may teach him how to appreciate good 
pictures and how to tell the good from the 
bad, and why some compositions are effec- 
tive and why some are not. Tliis is also 
true of any book on landscape gardening. 

The designing of gardens and the selec- 
tion of their accessories is as much an art 
as painting. One uses paint and canvas as 
its medium. The other uses Nature's own 
materials and composes them to make a 
picture with the very landscape itself. 



PREFACE 

The writer's experience as a landscape 
architect convinces him that no hard and 
fast rules can be dictated for the art of 
ornamental gardening in North America. 
Tlie beauty of our landscape is too subtle 
and the range of possible effects too wide, 
but each American garden should have an 
air of individuality, the beauty of which 
will come from the skilful blending of the 
best features of the best types. Above 
all, our gardens must be comfortable and 
cheerful. 

If this book shall be an aid to those who 
would make their gardens more home-like 
by the happy combination of living plants 
and permanent features of interest, it will 
have served its purpose. 

Acknowledgment is made to " Indoors 
and Out " for seven photographs shown in 
these pages. 



LORING UNDERV^'OOD. 



Beljiont, Massachusetts, 
October U, 190«. 



CONTENTS 

Chapter Txati 

I. The American Garden 1 

II. Summer-houses ........ 20 

Garden temples, gazebos, garden-houses, 
recessed wall-houses, rustic hoiises 

III. Arbors 40 

Pergolas, trellises, bowers, arches, green 
galleries, pleached alleys, pergola-veran- 
das 

IV. Sun-dials 67 

V. Some Small Accessories .... 89 
Garden gazing-globes, lanterns, shishls, 
well heads, figures, seats, tables, vases, 
bird-houses, bee skepes, bird fountains 

VI. Fountains and Pools 135 

VII. Enclosures 163 

Walls, terraces, fences, balustrades, city 
yard-gardens 

VIII. Materials 203 

Concrete, terra-cotta, stone, brick, wood 



IX 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



A Summer-house enriched by Flowers and Foliage 

Frontispiece 
A Successful Grouping of Summer-house, Table, and 

Garden Vases ;} 

Bird House in a Garden, Concord, Massachusetts . . ,'» 

Garden Shelter as seen from a Pergola 7 

An Interesting Old Garden Wall f) 

A Rustic Sunniier-house built around a Tree .... 11 

Picket Fence enclosing an Old-fashioned Garden ... 13 

Stepping Stones and Steps of Logs 15 

Partially Covered Garden Walk in Belmont, Massachusetts 17 

Garden Shelter of Thatched Straw 19 

Wall enclosing Summer-house in the Corner of a Garden 21 

A Recessed Garden House 23 

Garden Temple under a Pine Tree . , 25 

A Stone Gazebo 27 

A Simple Garden House against a Wall , 29 

A Garden and Summer-house on a Hillside 31 

Summer-house with a Thatched Roof of Pine Needles . 33 

Summer-house of Colonial Design 35 

Summer-house of Terra-cotta, Concrete and Wood . . 37 

Summer-house at the End of a Garden Wall ... 39 

A Typical Italian Pergola 41 

Colonial Arbor in a Salem Garden 43 

xi 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Flat-roofed Arbor (An American Type of Pergola) . . 45 

A " Pleached Alley," or *' Green Gallery " of Trees . . 4.7 

A Pergola In a City Yard-garden , 51 

An Imposing Pergola Veranda .5;^ 

Pergola of Natural Wood . . . ... 55 

A Massive Pergola of Concrete and Wood 57 

Garden Archway and Millstone Steps 59 

Old Colonial Arch -arbor, Beverley, Massachusetts . . (51 

A Pergola of Brick and Wood 63 

A Pergola Veranda that Fits its Surroundings ... 65 

A Three Partition Sununer-house 66 

Sun-dial on a Terrace 69 

Sun-dial, Harvard University 73 

Sun-dial and Lily Pond 75 

Sun-dials 79 

A Japanese Sun-dial 81 

Armillary Sphere Sun-dial 83 

A Sun-dial that is the Keynote of a Garden .... 85 

Sun-dial and " Hollyhocks all in a Row " 87 

Garden Gazing-globe on Terrace 91 

A Garden Gazing-globe 93 

Japanese Lantern (Kasuga design) in a Belmont Garden . 95 

A Wrought Iron Lantern 97 

A Japanese Shishi 99 

Well Head and Exedra 101 

Well Head and Terminal Figure 103 

Well Sweep in a New England Garden 105 

Old Colonial Well House 107 

A Modern Well Head 109 

Old Capital used as Well Head Ill 

Seat around a Tree 113 

xii 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Covered Seat of Red Cedar 115 

Old Hickory Seats in a Yard-garden *"....... 117 

An Inviting Garden Seat 119 

Rustic Furniture of Pleasing Design 121 

A Concrete Garden Table 123 

Table and Lantern . . 125 

A Garden Vase 127 

A Copper Vase 129 

Terra-cotta Vase and Stone Steps 131 

Hydrangeas in a Stone Vase 133 

Dove-cote on a Column of Field-stone 137 

Some Elaborate Accessories 139 

A Bird Fountain 141 

An Old Bee Skepe 143 

Artificial Pool treated Naturally 145 

Rocky Pool on Terrace 147 

A Simple Concrete Fountain 149 

Wall Fountain and Pool 151 

Terraced Fountain of Field-stone 153 

A Rockery Fountain 155 

" The Old Cushing Garden," Belmont, Massachusetts . 157 

Marble Pool and Fountain 159 

An Effective Wall Fountain 161 

Sunken Garden enclosed with Brick Walls 165 

Peach-trees on a Brick Wall 167 

Brick Wall capped with a Wooden Roof . . . . . . 169 

A Garden enclosed with a Wall of Field-stone . . . . 171 

An Enclosure of Brick and Wood 173 

Concrete Garden Wall 175 

Garden Wall and Gates, Adams Mansion, Quincy, Mas- 

.sachusetts 177 

xiii 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Terrace Walls of Field-stone 177 

Colonial Fence and Arbor on Terrace 181 

A Dignified Garden Enclosure 183 

Balustrade and Vases, Wellesley, Massachusetts . . . 185 

A Modern Fence built on Colonial Lines 187 

Colonial Fence in Cambridge, Massachusetts .... 189 

Memorial Fence, Harvard University 191 

Wind-break for Seashore Garden, Nantucket . . . 193 

City Yard-garden in Pompeii 195 

City Yard-garden, Boston. (The Garden Studio) . . . 197 

Corner in a City Yard-garden 199 

A Beacon Street Garden, Boston "201 

Cupid and Dolphin Fountain 202 

Modern Terra-cotta Garden Vase 205 

Reproduction in Concrete, — the de Medici Vase . . . 207 

A Concrete Garden Seat 209 

A Concrete Garden Bench 211 

Concrete Vase and Garden Wall Panel 213 

Sun-dial 215 



XIV 



THE GARDEN AND ITS 
ACCESSORIES 

CHAPTER I 

THE AMERICAN GARDEN 

THE transient beauty of American 
flower gardens pure and simple is 
gradually giving way to a perma- 
nent type that has features of interest all 
the year round. 

We have come to realize that our gar- 
dens lack an air of privacy and offer little 
inducement for one to stay in them except 
for the purpose of gathering flowers. They 
are without those features termed garden 
accessories that are so necessary if a garden 
is to be lived in. 

The great wave of garden enthusiasm 
that is sweeping over us, and is being so 
much encouraged by many magazines and 
1 1 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

writers of to-day, is awakening in us the 
fact that we ought to make more use of 
our gardens, apart from the pleasure 
of gathering and caring for flowers ; and 
we ought to make them look attractive by 
the introduction of features that will give 
charm when there are no flowers in bloom, 
— as is always the case in this climate for 
six or seven months every year. 

There is more to gardening than the 
mere raising of flowers. If any person does 
not think so, he had nuich better raise his 
flowers as he would vegetables, in simple 
beds by themselves, rather than make a 
feeble attempt to dress his grounds with 
fantastically arranged flower-beds. And 
this same principle holds true in regard 
to the employment of garden accessories. 
Better to make no attempt to use them 
at all than have them as we sometimes 
see, — a country place absolutely ruined 
by spotting it up with hideous statues and 

2 




o 



o 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

flimsy iron fountains and the like. Thank 
goodness such cases are comparatively 
rare. 

This desire to furnish a garden with ac- 
cessories that shall give it an air of comfort 
has led many to attempt to copy the beau- 
tiful dignified gardens of Italy. Various 
accessories of marble, benches, fountains, 
tables, urns and statuary have been im- 
ported, and this at great expense, in the 
belief that the owner has acquired an 
Italian garden simply because he has de- 
posited these accessories in various places 
round about. But the charm of the old- 
world garden has not been transferred with 
its furnishings. Its spirit has not been 
interpreted. 

How much better the American garden 
would have been if the owner had made 
use of some of the materials tliat our 
own country offers so bountifully. Stone, 
brick, concrete, terra-cotta and wood are 

4 



I. *; 





Bird House in a Garden, Concord, Mas.sacliu.sotts 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

all suitable for the embellishment of gar- 
dens, and if we use these mediums right 
and fashion them in the spirit that our 
daily needs require, we can make our gar- 
dens homelike and equal if not superior to 
those of Italy that have been so exten- 
sively copied, but for the most part with 
little regard for their fitness to American 
conditions. Instead of pretentious cas- 
cades, temples and marble statuary we 
should have fountains and pools, summer- 
houses and arbors, seats and sun-dials, and 
whatever will give the garden a homelike 
air. 

As for the garden setting, our North 
American landscape is fully as imposing 
as that of the old world, and we have a 
richer and more varied foliage. Our cedars 
and rhododendrons compare favorably with 
the cypresses and laurels, and our summer 
climate much resembles that of Southern 
Europe in spring and autumn. 
6 




o 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

What will the American garden of the 
future be, — a copy of the Italian garden, a 
modification of the formal English wall 
garden, an elaboration of the miniature 
gardens of Japan, or a revival of the arti- 
ficially natural garden now so much seen 
in America and England ? If good taste 
shall rule it will be none of tliese. It will 
be typical of America, — a garden that will 
have an air of individuality, just as we 
Americans, though a composite of many 
nationalities, are nevertheless a distinct 
type. And each garden will be different, 
for nature never gives the same aspect to 
different pieces of ground, and each must 
be made to fit its site and surroundings. 
They will have, however, the same spirit, 
the same skilful blending of the best ex- 
amples of garden craft of the world, and 
they will be as well adapted to the require- 
ments of the out-of-door life of to-day as 
were the Italian gardens to the out-of- 
8 






0^.^:- ■-■■■-- 









An Interesting Old Garden Wall 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

door life of Italy. Large or small, elabo- 
rate or modest, they will have in common 
the three fundamental attributes of all 
good gardens : comfort, cheerfulness and 
inspiration. 

A garden need not be formal in order 
that accessories of a semi-architectural 
nature may be successfully introduced. 
Everything depends upon the nature and 
design of these pieces and whether or not 
they are placed so as to fit harmoniously in 
the garden picture. 'I'he phrase " formal 
irarden " has been almost as much abused 
as the term " Italian garden." Because a 
garden has some air of symmetry and is 
well cared for is no reason why it should 
be called formal ; as a matter of fact it 
may be most delightfully informal and 
hospitable. In these qualities lay the 
charm of many of the latter day Colonial 
gardens. They were prim only to the 
degree of being well designed and of good 
10 




e 

«2 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

proportions, and in addition to their simple 
accessories, flowers were in abundance and 
grew in a natural and uncliecked profusion. 
These delightful gardens, planned by the 
Colonists after the type they had known 
at home, were good exponents of the 
proper use of simple garden accessories. 
There was almost always an arbor with a 
circular top over which were trained grape- 
vines. This was often the central feature, 
and radiating from it were paths that were 
frequently spanned with trellis arches for 
the support of other \'ines and climbers. 
Then at the end of the garden farthest 
from the house, or in a snug corner, one 
would be apt to find a little summer-house 
or garden seat, and the whole garden sur- 
rounded with a wall or fence or hedge on 
three sides, with the house on the fourth. 

How unfortunate that these secluded, 
intimate gardens should have given way to 
a gaudy type of bedded-out plants and 
1^ 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

their tawdry associates, of which the chief 
virtue seems to be the ease with which 
they can show the gardener's skill in clip- 
ping them so closely as to resemble rugs. 
These tender exotics always occupy a con- 
spicuous position on a lawn and are planted 
in beds of set shape. This sort of garden- 
ing was at its height about twenty years 
ago, but ever since it has been dying a slow 
but sure death, until to-day tliere is a 
strong plea for the old-time garden with 
its air of privacy, refinement and comfort, 
— a little world by itself wherein one may 
entertain friends away from the gaze of 
outsiders. 

There can be no hard and fast rules 
concerning the use of garden accessories. 
Some gardens may be improved by the 
judicious use of a pergola, or even a piece 
of statuary in the form of a terminal figure, 
but in others they would look hideous. It 
is all a question of environment. Our 
14 




Stepping Stones and Steps of Logs 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

gardens must of necessity be individual. 
The elaborate manor house of princely 
proportions, if designed after the Itahan 
lines of architecture, will best be served 
by a garden modelled on the same lines. 
Many of us may not care to live in such 
a palatial house, but we must admire its 
architectural significance and acknowledge 
the appropriateness of its terraced gardens 
built on broad lines with flowers occupy- 
ing a position of secondary importance to 
ornamental accessories of stone and marble. 

In contrast to this we have the simple 
little garden of the modest suburban home, 
— a garden that sliould be as serviceable as 
one of the rooms of the house. It is as 
fitting a place for garden accessories as its 
more pretentious contemporary, only they 
must be of the simple type. 

Those who claim that American gardens 
should be of the naturalistic type wherein 
it is bad taste to have anything except 
16 




CQ 



o 



o 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

trees and shrubs and flowers overlook the 
fact that gardens were meant to be Hved 
in even from the time of Adam. 

It is not too much to assert tliat the 
most enjoyable gardens the world over are 
those that are furnished with soine acces- 
sories of an architectural or semi-architec- 
tural nature. Kecall the gardens you have 
admired ; those that have been truly satis- 
fying, have they not had some permanent 
features other than the flowering plants 
and trees, an interesting old piece of wall, 
a modest fountain, a summer-house or 
arbor, or perhaps only a bench so placed as 
to cast an air of comfort over all ? 



18 




Garden Shelter of Thatched Straw 



CHAPTER II 

SUMMER-HOUSES 

THE evolution of the summer-house 
from the simple thatched hut of 
the cottage-garden to tlie classic 
garden temple of the elaborate formal gar- 
den has been like the evolution of all other 
useful ornaments of outdoor art. They 
came into being from necessity, and devel- 
oped to meet the requirements of those who 
made use of the garden as a place in which to 
retire for rest and recreation, slieltered from 
sun, wind and rain by a roof and walls. 

To walk in a garden and to breathe its 
atmosphere of repose and beauty is good, 
but doubly so is it to rest a while within 
its enchantment seated in the shade of a 
summer-house or arbor. How many at- 
tractive places we have seen where " he 
20 




I 



Wall enclosing Summer-house in the Corner of a Garden 



THE GAKUEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

who runs may read," but where a con- 
venient spot to rest and meditate on Na- 
ture's beauty is denied us. Even a bench 
in full sunlight tempts a nature-lover to 
linger and thus more fully appreciate the 
beauty of things around him. 

Almost all home grounds (large or small) 
have a place where a summer-house would 
appear to advantage. If it would not look 
appropriate in the garden proper it could 
occupy some vantage point overlooking tlie 
garden, as does the " summer-house thatched 
with pine needles." To appear at its best it 
must be subordinate to its surroundings. 
It should not predominate in the land- 
scape, nor should it exist in a location 
where there is no excuse for it. The gar- 
den as a whole must be the all-important 
consideration ; its furnishings are but ac- 
cessories. Sometimes the summer-house 
that is purely architectural would appear 
to more advantage than the one of rustic 




o 



ai 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

construction. Whatever we have, let it be 
of simple and conserv^ative design. There 
is no excuse for gingerbread ornamentation 
and superfluous half-trimmed branches, even 
in rustic work. They serve only to confuse 
the eye and to add discomfort to all who 
come in contact with their obtrusiveness. 

The " garden temple under a pine tree " 
and " a recessed garden-house " would be 
out of place in many modest American 
gardens, but a natural wood summer-house 
like that on page 11 would look "fit" in 
many a cosey corner we have passed while 
retreating from a garden in search of re- 
lief from the persistent heat of a sum- 
mers day. For formal gardens, however, 
with their studied arrangement of terraces, 
paths, flower-beds and other symmetrical 
parts we would choose the summer-house of 
classic design. There is something dignified 
and inspiring about these classic structures 
when seen with imposing surroundings, but 
24 




Garden Temple under a Pine Tree 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

they would jar our sensibilities if placed in 
a tangled arrangement of natural features. 

These miniature houses offer almost as 
much chance for the display of skilful 
architectural design as the true dwelling 
house. The ideal summer-house may have 
several things besides benches and tables 
to make it comfortable. There may be 
easy-chairs and hammocks, slielves with 
cupboards upon which to store glasses 
and plates, and there may even be run- 
nino" water, for one of the delights will 
be to entertain one's friends with cooling 
drinks or afternoon tea. Here one may 
flee from the many distractions of a large 
household with its ringing telephone and 
ubiquitous servants, and if you would en- 
tertain a few friends at a quiet game of 
cards or with a chafing-dish supper and a 
fragrant cup of coffee, where could a more 
appropriate place be found ? Its comfort 
may even be enjoyed on sunny winter 
26 




A Stone Gazebo 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

days, for the lover of out of doors will find it 
sunny and cheery if the walls are tight on 
the north side so as to stop the wind. 

" A simple garden-house against a wall " 
is a refreshing note in an old-fashioned 
enclosed garden. Its simple wooden roof 
and dainty columns give it a light and 
playful look in comparison to the dignified 
wall on either side. It has a little door at 
the back that opens on a path that leads to 
the kitchen garden. This is an interesting 
treatment of a summer-house and garden 
entrance combined, — a rare bit of Colo- 
nial architecture of which there is far too 
little in our gardens. In the same garden 
is another " summer-house at the end of 
a garden wall " that is quite different from 
this one. Although made of wood it has 
much dignity of outline and refinement of 
color that combine to make it a fitting 
ending to the stolid wall. This structure 
closely resembles the " gazebo " of Eng- 
28 




o 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

lish gardens. The " gazebo " is a type of 
summer-house that occupies a prominent 
position commanding an extreme view. 
Its place is at the end of a terrace wall or 
on a ledge where one may " gaze " at the 
surrounding country. A garden house of 
this type is seen in the illustration, "a 
garden and summer-house on a hillside." 

There is an interesting kind of summer- 
house to be found in some English gardens. 
It is planned especially for the enjoyment 
of gardens in severe weather, and is so ar- 
ranged that one may sit in the sun and 
be protected from the wind or vice versa. 
There are three compartments, each shielded 
from the other by solid partitions that run 
from floor to roof Thus you may choose 
any one of the three little rooms of the 
house that has an exposure suited to the 
conditions required. See plan on page 66. 

Still another little house with similar 
purpose is arranged with a central pivot on 
30 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

which it turns so that one may get any ex- 
posure desired. The sills and floor beams 
are independent of the ground. They clear 
it a few inches and hang from the central 
pivot post that runs from flooi* to roof and 
is the main-stay of the whole structure. 
It has one disadvantage — no vines can be 
trained upon it unless grown in boxes 
attached to the sides. 

The " summer-house with a thatched 
roof of pine needles " is in a position where 
it overlooks a garden on one side and a 
meadow on the other. With the exception 
of the seats that are constructed around 
the interior it is made of posts and poles 
of red cedar that were obtained of a farmer 
who was cleaning up some pasture land. 
In plan it is an elongated decagon, eigh- 
teen feet by ten feet, the shorter measure- 
ment being the distance between the two 
pine trees. If the picture is observed closely 
it will be noticed that the upright posts (of 
32 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

which there are eight) are set in the ground 
at an angle of about ten degrees off the 
perpendicular. This idea was suggested by 
the two trees that grow out of the ground 
at that same angle, and they themselves 
act as posts for support of tlie structure. 

The floor and roof were made by fitting 
together as closely as possible the smallest 
poles (three to four inches in diameter at 
the butts). The rounded surfaces of these 
were roughly flattened by the use of an 
adze, and the roof was made water-tight 
by covering them with tarred felt paper. 
Over this was painted a thick coating of 
coal tar, and while it was still soft brown 
pine needles were stuck on to the depth of 
about two inches, thus producing an at- 
tractive thatch. The pine trees overhead 
shed a yearly supply of pine needles that 
drop onto the roof in quantities sufficient 
to make up for those that disappear in the 
process of weathering. 
34 




Summer-house of Colonial Design 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

At each post are planted vines and 
climbers, and around the house is a two- 
foot border planted with lilies and ferns. 
This border is raised some six inches above 
the natural le\'el of the ground in order 
that plenty of nourishment may be sup- 
plied, and the plants kept cultivated with- 
out disturbing any more than possible the 
roots of the trees. 

Believing that many of the readers of 
this book may ha^'e a garden wherein a 
summer-house, built on some such simple 
lines as this one, would be an addition, the 
writer has given this description of the one 
he built himself. 

Besides red cedar or locust one could use 
white cedar or larch, also the second growth 
of white oak and chestnut ; but these woods 
all decay sooner than red cedar and locust. 
Both cedars have a pleasing odor and the 
bark clings well to the wood, provided it 
is cut in the fall when the sap is not run- 
36 




o 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

ning. The chief quahties of all these woods 
are their straight and gradual tapering 
habits of growth and their durability. 
Red cedar should stand for fifty or sixty 
years, but posts set in the ground often show 
bad decay after ten or twelve years. To 
prevent this they should be set on stone or 
cement foundations, so the wood will not 
touch the earth. 

The illustrations of others more archi- 
tectural that are shown in this cliapter 
show some types that are very attracti\'e. 
All have in common an appearance of 
stability and a lack of finical ornamenta- 
tion, and are in marked contrast to the 
usual type of pavilion so much in evidence, 
especially at seashore resorts. It is hoped 
that these pictures may be of some assist- 
ance in offering possible suggestions to all 
who appreciate the comfort and delight that 
one of these outdoor living rooms affords. 



38 




Summer-house at the End of a Garden Wall 



CHAPTER III 

ARBORS 

THERE are many interesting varie- 
ties of arbors suitable for gar- 
dens. Pergolas, trellises, bowers, 
or arches over pathways are all near enough 
in appearance and purpose to be called 
"arbors." 

The word " pergola " has lately been 
revised to include many such semi-archi- 
tectural features, — features that add vari- 
ety and charm to a garden by making an 
attractive support for flowering vines and 
climbers, and by thus covering walks and 
pathways and making shady and airy 
tunnels. One might hardly be expected 
to distinguish between an arbor and a 
pergola, unless it may be said the former 
has always been considered as a summer- 
40 




A Typical Italian Pergola 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

house having a pointed domed roof of 
rafters with open spaces between, whereas 
the pergola is made up of a series of col- 
umns or piers in a row, and is flat on top, 
with beams or Doles interlaced overhead. 

L 

Pergola is an Italian word that was once 
given to a variety of grape that grew in 
Italy. Gradually this word was used to 
distinguish the arbor upon which the grape 
was grown, until the use of both gi'ape and 
arbor became so universal tliat the term 
was applied to any covered way, whether 
or not it was clothed with the vines of this 
particular grape. The writer can recall 
many country places where arbors of the 
pergola type have been misused in such a 
manner as to disgust any person who has 
a knowledge of the fitness of things. 

The " C^olonial arbor in a Salem garden " 

is a type that was very common in tlie old 

gardens of small New England cities and 

towns, and it is a happy combination of 

42 




Colonial Arbor in a Salem Garden 



THE GARDEN xVND ITS ACCESSORIES 

a covered way and resting place, — a sort 
of cross between a summer-house and a 
pergola. 

^¥hat a refreshing sense of comfort these 
vine-covered structures gave to the little 
backyard gardens ! Here the housewife 
would come to shell peas and pare apples, 
or to read awhile in the cool shade after a 
hot fight with the unwelcome weeds of the 
garden. And the cliildren of the house- 
hold — how they loved this miniature 
bower where they could play at " keeping 
house " to their hearts' content ! 

There is another variety of ^ ine-clad en- 
closure often called a pergola that is more 
properly a flat-roofed arbor, for it spans no 
walk but has all the appearance of a flat- 
roofed house, with open sides and a roof 
that is open except for the rafters and 
leaves of ^ ines that clothe the spaces be- 
tween them. This airy structure is of 
rather recent introduction in our gardens, 
44 




cu 






< 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

and its appearance leads one to suppose 
that it must have been suggested by the 
pergola. It is a type of arbor that is 
admirably suited to our needs, for it is a 
shelter from the sun when its roof is clothed 
in greenery, but is so open that it allows a 
breeze, no matter how light, to pass through 
the framework of columns or piers and 
rafters of which it is composed. Surely it 
is an ingenious device for adding comfort 
to a garden, and is as capable of showing 
architectural beauty as a summer-house or 
pergola. 

In Elizabethan days arbors were often 
called " green galleries " or " pleached al- 
leys " ; these terms being applied to a series 
of arches upon which trees were trained, 
until finally the entire pathway became as 
a living tunnel, so sturdy as to need no sup- 
port. This is a type of arbor rarely seen, 
and the fact is to be regretted, because 
nothing could be more striking and pictur- 
46 




o 



o 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

esque in a garden. All that is needed is 
patience and care in pruning the trees into 
an arched form. There are many quick- 
growing varieties such as the willows, buck- 
thorns, or even fruit trees, that readily lend 
themselves to this treatment, and one would 
have to wait but a few years before their 
branches would be so thickly joined over- 
head that the arbor proper could be re- 
moved. The time required for this arbor 
to build itself, as it were, will not discour- 
age the true lover of ornamental gardening. 
He knows that the enduring charm of a 
garden does not come from things that are 
planted for immediate effect. The pleached 
alley previously described is the only form 
of arbor where temporary construction is 
permissible. 

No matter what form it may take, 

whether it is flat on top like a pergola or 

domed like a series of arches, the position 

of the arbor in a garden must be carefully 

48 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

selected. The raising of vines and climb- 
ers is not alone excuse enough for its being. 
You do not want it to look like a tangled 
mass of greenery piled up in the most 
prominent place in the garden, — a damp 
but cosey home for bugs and other insects. 

A pergola should lead to some object 
like a summer-house, a bench, or a fountain ; 
or it may connect one part of a garden with 
another, or act as a screen, much as would 
a hedge between a flower garden and the 
kitchen garden. 

Flowering vines and climbers appear to 
the best advantage when trained on the 
posts and crossbeams of an arbor, and 
the glimmering light and shade that plays 
along this covered way makes it a charm- 
ing feature of garden magic. The massive 
and dignified pergolas seen in Italy are 
generally made of large stone or cement 
columns, with stout, rough-hewn or nat- 
ural poles overhead. Often these columns 
4 49 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

are not of the true classic order, but are 
roughly put together with small stones or 
brick and plaster, always, however, with 
a careful regard for good proportion and 
symmetry. 

In planning the erection of any sort of 
an arbor one should not lose sight of the 
fact that it must be of some architectural 
design that will be pleasing to look at, 
even though not clothed with vines. This 
is the true test of all well-designed garden 
accessories of this nature. No amount of 
greenery and flowers can give them a per- 
fect appearance unless they are well de- 
signed in the beginning. 

The spacing of pergola columns and 
rafters demands more careful considera- 
tion than is generally given. There is 
rarely any reason for placing the uprights 
nearer together than eight feet, both 
lengthwise and transversely, and if they 
are eight or nine feet tall the pergola will 
60 




A Pergola in u City Yard-garden 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

be made up of a series of cubical sections 
that will give a pleasing shape to the 
whole. If the structure is to span a grass 
walk, it is important that the vines should 
not grow so closely together as to make a 
dense shade ; therefore the rafters should 
not be closer together tlian four feet. 
Even if it is desired to have the per- 
gola densely covered with greenery there 
is really no necessity for closer spacing. 
The climbers may be trained on wires. 
Too many rafters make a cumbersome 
and top-heavy effect that reminds one of 
a section of an elevated railway, and this 
will be all the more apparent if the pergola 
is over eight or nine feet tall. 

A most dignified and effective pergola 
can be made of wooden columns of classic 
design, but they should be the "lock-joint " 
pattern, or have a central liole bored the 
length of the column and the outside 
thoroughly painted with three or four 
52 




An Imposing Pergola Veranda 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

coats in order not to crack or warp from 
the effect of weather. The columns must 
stand on a foundation of stone or cement, 
otherwise the ground will cause a rapid 
decay of the wood. The illustration on 
page 51 shows one of this description. It 
illustrates an effective use of columns and 
pilasters of the Greek Doric order, and it 
is a good example of the type of pergola 
that is pleasing to look at, even though 
not covered with vines. 

The following suggestions for the erec- 
tion of a rustic wooden pergola (flat-arched 
arbor) are recommended. Locust or red 
cedar is the most durable wood ; but white 
cedar, the second growth of white oak, 
chestnut and larch are all suitable if the 
posts are treated with a preservative mix- 
ture of creosote on the surface of all parts 
that come in contact with the ground and 
at the intersection of all posts and rafters 
where moisture is likely to collect. To 
54) 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

apply this preservativ^e properly, the bark 
must first be taken off all the places 
where decay may occur, so that the liquid 
can soak into the wood. The rest of the 
structure that is freely exposed to the sun 
and air does not need treatment. Here 
the bark may be left on. It is impor- 
tant, however, to cut all protruding limbs 
or stubs close to the posts and rafters, 
otherwise the pergola will have a clumsy 
or ragged appearance that would detract 
from its simple and dignified outline. 

The uprights, which are the largest 
pieces of the pergola, need not be as 
large around as a column, but the nearer 
they resemble the latter in proportion the 
better. They look their best when not 
less than eight inclies in diameter at the 
end next to the ground, and they should 
taper as little as possible to the rafters ; 
these may be as small as one half the size 
of the posts. In order that the uprights 
56 




A Massive Pergola of Concrete and Wood 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

may stand firmly they require to be set 
in the ground to a depth of four feet, or 
else securely fastened to a stone founda- 
tion by means of a dowel as recommended 
for summer-houses. The rafters that run at 
right angles to the length of the pergola 
should be the smallest ones of all, and they 
may be spaced the same distance apart as 
those of the more pretentious type. 

The fault of most arbors of wooden 
construction is a light [ind temporary ap- 
pearance caused by not using material of 
sufficient stoutness, and this is especially 
noticeable in much of the lattice work of 
this nature. This result arises from the 
fact that undue thought has been given to 
the vines and climbers, with little regard 
for the fitness of the structure that must 
support them. Unless stock of sufficient 
size and durable nature is used there can 
be little satisfaction in these arbors, for 
they may become absolutely useless at the 
58 




Garden Archway and Millstone Steps 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

end of fi\e or six years because of the 
rotten condition of the wood. Arbors of 
the treUis or lattice type may be made in 
various designs, and one may take more 
Hberty with their form of construction 
than with the pergola. However, the 
simple domed or arched form will be in 
better taste than any departure to fantas- 
tic ornamentation. 

One form of arbor is so simple as to 
be nothing more than a single arch or a 
series of arches spanning a pathway, — arch 
arbors, or bowers, as they are frequently 
called. They may be made of wood 
or iron ; the latter material is, of course, 
more durable, but its appearance is not 
pleasing until enveloped in greenery. One 
should guard against the use of most of 
the ready-made work of this nature. It 
is generally so small and flimsy of con- 
struction as to give nothing but a light 
and temporary appearance to a garden. 
60 




Old Colonial Arch-arbor, Beverley, Massachusetts 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

Among the many suitable vines and 
climbers for growing on an arbor there is 
hardly any more beautiful than the sturdy 
varieties of climbing roses. Four years 
ago the writer planted the following twenty- 
three varieties on a moderately sheltered 
pergola near Boston : 

* Baltimore Belle * Pink Roanier 

* Paul Carmine Pillar * Rubin 

* Psyche * Jersey Beauty 

* Setigera * Dawson 

* Farquhar (White Rambler) 

* Wichui'aiana (Yellow Ramblei') 

* Queen of the Prairies (Universal Favorite) 

* Manda's Triumph (Pink Rambler) 

* South Orange Perfection (Climbing \'ictor V^erdier) 
Evergreen Gem * Crimson Rambler 
Gardenia Gem of the Prairies 
Leuchstern Climbing Jules Margottin 

Those that are starred grew well, those in 
parentheses died. The rest lived, but do 
not seem to have done more than barely 
exist. They have died back almost to the 
ground each winter, and have had but few 
scattering blossoms. All were planted in 
good soil and have had the best of care. 
62 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

Other perennial vines and climber^that 
thrive on arbors are trumpet creeper, 
wistaria, \^irginia creeper, akebia, Hall's 
honeysuckle, actinidia, Dutchman's pipe, 
grapevine, both edible and ornamental, 
Euonymus Radicans, matrimony-vine and 
all the clematises. 

One cannot condemn too strongly the 
impatient habit of growing annual vines 
with perennials in order to get an immedi- 
ate effect. They will choke out the latter, 
and if they don't actually kill these climbers, 
upon which the ultimate effect depends, 
they overpower all and retard the growth. 
JMany annual vines are charming, but they 
should be given a place by themselves. If 
the perennial vines that are here mentioned 
are given the proper care, /. c, plenty of food 
and the surface of the ground about the 
roots kept broken all summer, there is no 
reason why they should not clothe an arbor 
in three seasons. 

64 




A Pergola Veranda that Fits its Surroundings 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

To tlie garden lover who realize^ that 
there is more to ornamental gardening than 
the mere raising of flowers and plants, the 
arbor or pergola may be a welcome acces- 
sory, whose semi-architectural appearance 
will go far toward making his garden a 
more interesting place to look at, in winter 
as well as summer. It is imperative, how- 
ever, that such a fixture should fit its sur- 
roundings in plan and appearance, just as a 
house should fit its site. 




66 



CHAPTER IV 

SUN-DIALS 

THE quaint and enduring fascina- 
tion of a sun-dial has made it most 
sought as an ornament for a garden. 
The fact that it " marks only the sunny 
hours " does not detract from its value, for 
its charm lies not alone in its being able 
always to tell the time. Every one must 
experience a feeling of interest and awe 
when in the presence of this silent recorder 
of the passing of time. How mysterious 
is the thought of life. 

" A clock the time may wrongly tell. 
I, never, while the sun shines well," 

may be true of a dial, provided it has been 

made so as to fit the latitude of the place 

wherein it is set up. A sun-dial made for 

67 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

Old England will not keep time in New 
England. The angle of the shadow will 
not be right. 

Sun-dials were the only time-keepers 
known for centm^ies before clocks and 
watches were invented. Sun-dial time is 
called Apparent time and clock time Mean 
time, and the difference between the two 
is known as the equation of time. A sun- 
dial and a clock will not agree absolutely 
except at four different periods of the year, 
— for a few days in the middle of June, the 
middle of September, December and March. 
At these periods we have tlie typical days 
of the year, — the longest days in June, the 
shortest in December, and the twelve-hour 
day in September and JNIarch when the 
sun rises and sets at six o'clock. At all 
other times the clock is either a few minutes 
faster or a few minutes later than the Ap- 
parent time. But this fact should not 
brand a sun-dial as useless. It is not to be 

68 



i(i (iiwi i f/]ji 'ii ii(i(te*it»rtttn T 




THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

supposed that one would rely upon it to 
catch a train, although if so, he might be no 
worse off than he would if guided by some 
watches or clocks. 

If the reader is possessed with a love for 
things eternal he will be pleased with the 
sentiment on sun-dials that Charles Lamb 
has expressed. It deserves to be quoted 
in full : 

" What an antique air had the now almost effaced 
sun-dials with their moral inscriptions, seeming co- 
evals with that time which they measured, and 
to take their revelations of its flight immediately 
from heaven, holding correspondence with the foun- 
tain of light ! How would the dark line steal im- 
perceptibly on, watched by the eye of childhood 
eager to detect its movement, never catched, nice as 
an evanescent cloud, or the flrst arrests of sleep ! 

" Ah ! yet doth beauty like a dial hand 
Steal from its figure, and no pace perceived. 

" What a dead thing is a clock, with its ponderous 
embowehnents of lead and brass, its pert or solenni 
dulness of communication, compared with the 
70 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

simple altar-like structure and sileut heart-language 
of the old dial. 

" It stood as the garden god of Christian gar- 
dens. Why is it almost everywhere vanished ? If 
its business use be suspended by more elaborate 
inventions, its moral uses, its beauty, might have 
pleaded for its continuance. It spoke of moderate 
labours, of pleasures not protracted after sunset, of 
temperance and good hours. It was the primitive 
clock, the horologe of the first world. Adam could 
scai'ce have missed it in Paradise. It was the meas- 
ure appropriate for sweet plants and flowers to 
spring by, for the birds to apportion their silver 
warblings by, for flocks to pasture and be led to fold 
by. The shepherd ' carved it out quaintly in the 
sun,"' and turning philosopher by the very occupa- 
tion, provided it with mottoes more touching than 
tombstones." 

There are two kinds of dials, — the hori- 
zontal and the perpendicular. The latter 
is affixed to the side of a building or a wall, 
and is not so much used in gardens as the 
horizontal dial. The dial proper should 
be made of some permanent material like 
bronze or stone, and mounted on a simple 

71 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

altar-like structure that serves as a pedestal. 
In order that this pedestal may look well 
it must be solid but not clumsy. The 
most appropriate ones are made of stone 
or marble. Wood is sometimes used, but 
it has not the lasting qualities that the 
sentiment of a sun-dial requires. What- 
ever the material, it must be set on a 
foundation of stone, otherwise the frost 
will throw the pedestal out of plumb, and 
the dial face not being level will not tell 
correct time. JNIoreover, the appearance 
of a pedestal that is not perpendicular is 
decidedly weak and annoying. This is a 
point that must always be borne in mind 
in connection with any garden accessory. 
A foundation of some sort is absolutely 
necessary in order to insure a fixed perpen- 
dicular and horizontal position. If one is 
going to have a sun-dial, it is just as well 
to have one that is right in e^'ery respect ; 
and it should be placed where the sun will 
72 




Sun-dial, Harvard University 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

shine upon it. If it does not tell the time 
it misses its purpose. 

A fault tliat many pedestals have is an 
excessive height, which forces a person of 
small stature to look upon the dial face 
with difficulty, yet one of the charms of 
this bit of garden accessory is the delight 
that it gives children. Tlie Avriter recalls 
with what awe as a child he approached the 
first sun-dial of his experience. It seemed 
so mysterious, this sentinel of light, that it 
made a lasting impression in which the 
garden figured as a little fairy world. 

A sun-dial is divided into two parts, the 
dial face and the gnomon, or style, that 
projects at an angle from the face and 
marks the time by the shadow it casts. 
Its upper surface must form an angle with 
the dial that shall be the same number of 
degrees as the degree of latitude for whicli 
the sun-dial is made. P^or example, it 
must form an angle of forty-two degrees 
74 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

and twenty-one minutes if the dial is to 
tell the time in Boston, Massachusetts. 
Of course the accuracy of the dial as a 
timekeeper depends on other fixed rules. 
The spacing of the hour marks must be 
carefully computed for different latitudes, 
and the gnomon should point to the true 
north, the north star, and the whole dial 
should be absolutely rigid and level. 

It is an interesting fact that in the early 
part of the eighteenth century some of the 
coinage of the United States was stamped 
with a design of a sun-dial that bore these 
inscriptions : " Fugio " and " INIind your 
business," and this led to its being called 
the " Fugio Currency." There was the 
Fugio note, the Fugio cent and the Fugio 
dollar. The cent was also called the 
Franklin cent because of Benjamin Frank- 
lin's connection with the coinage. The 
motto " Mind your business " is of English 
origin, and is said to hav e originated in the 
76 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

following nianner : a stone carver, who was 
sent by a dial maker to carve a motto on 
the dial at the Inner Temple library in 
London, asked the old inmate what the 
inscription was to be. He received the 
surly reply, " Begone about your business." 
This he immediately proceeded to carve 
on the dial. 

The sentiment inspired by a sun-dial 
has led to many charming compositions 
in the form of mottoes. In fact, a 
motto seems almost necessary in order to 
give a dial an air of individuality. This 
by Richard Le Gallienne is of beautiful 
sentiment : 

" Shadow and Sun 
Thus too our Hves are made 
Yet think how great the sun 
How small the shade." 

A motto that is equally inspiring comes 
from the dial of Harriet Martineau — 

" Come ! Light ! Visit me ! " 

77 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

A motto that is a universal favorite gives 
tliis cheerful sentiment : 

" Let others tell of storms and showers, 
I'll only count your sunny hours." 

For the most part mottoes treat with 
some deep truth of life ; many are cheerful, 
but some are solemn and e\'en gloomy. 
One of strong sentiment by Henry Van 
Dyke must please all thinking persons 
who read it : 

'• Hours fly 
Flowers die 
New days 
New ways 
Pass by 
Love stays." 

As a rule the dial's saying is most pleas- 
ing when short and to the point. An im- 
pertinent jest but one of good will and 
cheerfulness is on the writer's dial that is 
pictured on page 79 

" My face marks the sunn}- hours. 
What can you say of yours?" 

78 








U'A. 




THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

Many sun-dials were made in the United 
States in the latter half of the eighteenth 
century, but they seem never to have been 
an article of commercial manufacture ; 
possibly because the varying degrees of 
latitudes in our country made dialling so 
difficult as to hinder the maker from get- 
ting a just price for his work ; for each 
degree of latitude must have a dial espe- 
cially designed for it, otherwise the dial will 
not keep time. Dial making in those 
days was practised by many. They had 
time enough to amuse themselves with 
this gentle art, and made their own sun- 
dials, or designed them for friends. George 
Washington had three sun-dials. The 
handsomest was in front of his home at 
JNIount Vernon. The dial of Mary Wash- 
ington still stands in her garden at Fred- 
ericksburg. During the nineteenth century 
it became almost a lost art, but has recently 
been revived. Accurate sun-dials made of 

80 




A Japanese Sun-dial 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

bronze are now quite inexpensive. So are 
simple, dignified pedestals of composition 
stone. 

The writer will not here go into the art 
of dial making, but refers the reader who 
may wish to study this subject further, to 
a delightful book by Alice ^lorse Earle, 
" Sun-dials and Roses of Yesterday," -^ a 
book that gives many practical sugges- 
tions, and teems with quaint and deep 
sentiment. 

In the chapter on the charm and senti- 
ment of sun-dials she writes : 

" But the suii-dial is a thing of deep sentiment. 
All feel the beauty and wonder of the thought that 
Time, the most intangible, most fleeting, most 
wonderful of conditions, is mai-ked so fittingly in 
its passing by a shadow almost equally intangible ; 
and that the noblest evidences of creation — the 
stars in the heavens — would be to us invisible and 
unknown save for their revelation through the 
shadow of the earth. Thus are great truths re- 
vealed to us, not by gi-eat Light but by Darkness 
— a lesson of Life." 

82 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

If for no other reason the sentiment of a 
sun-dial makes it indeed a garden deUght 
of a lasting quahty, never cliangi ng, winter 
or summer, fulfilling its mission year after 
year. 

Those who would have a pedestal of 
their own design because of a desire to be 
more intimately associated with it, or would 
choose to fashion one out of some old field 
stone or fragment that recalls memories 
of bygone days, may w^ith little trouble 
have their wishes gratified. All of us can 
recall some old field stone of pillar-like 
shape, some rounded piece of marble or 
fragment of a column that we once knew 
intimately, or was known and often spoken 
of by some one dear to us in memory. 
The writer recalls a certain old mill-stone 
on the shore of a pond w^here, as a small 
boy, he used to place his clothes when he 
went for a swim, and some day he hopes 
to get this interesting old stone and use it 
84 




o 



UJ 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

for a base upon which to stand a simple 
shaft with a sun-dial. An example of this 
kind of a pediment is pictured on page 87, 
a simple doric shaft surmounting it. 

This illustration also shows an admirable 
setting for a sun-dial, placed as it is at the 
end of a garden walk, and set off on one 
side by a sturdy arbor-vita? hedge in front 
of which are " Hollyhocks all in a row," 
and on the other side by a perennial border 
of many different flowers such as were loved 
and cared for by the garden's owner, whose 
ashes lie under an oak tree not far from the 
sun-dial. I can see him now — this simple 
man of strong character and large heart, 
gathering flowers in the cool hours of the 
morning, even soon after the break of day, 
and fashioning them into delightful nose- 
gays in a way that he alone knew how. 
Bits of larkspur, lemon-verbena, heliotrope, 
mignonette, carnations, snapdragon, and 
rose geranium all blended together with 
86 




3 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

much greenery in a way to delight an 
artist ; then back to the house he would 
come, to place the bouquet at my mother's 
place at tlie breakfast table ; and it was 
always a surprise and a source of wonder 
that the little garden could yield such 
heavenly things. 

Almost all flowers lend themselves to a 
close relationship with a sun-dial. Both 
suggest the flight of time, though in a 
different way. 

"The shadow on the dial's face 
That steals from day to day, 
With slow, unseen, unceasing pace. 
Moments and months and years away. 
This shadow which in every clime, 
Since light and motion first began, 
Hath held its course sublime." 

Whittier. 



88 



CHAPTER V 

SOME SMALL ACCESSORIES 
GARDEN GAZING-GLOBES 

THE garden gazing-globe is an orna- 
ment that is a delight to all who 
have seen it, with its reflection of 
the surrounding landscape. Like a Claude 
Lorraine mirror, it concentrates all objects 
within its range, so that it reflects them in 
a closer perspective than naturally seen. 
It interprets the charm of the landscape so 
that the eye sees all the beauty caught and 
intensified in a small sphere. 

This ornament is indeed an incentive to 
one's imagination, for the various features 
of its surroundings are reflected in a 
way that calls for admiration, just as the 
colors and composition of a painting make 

89 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

us envy the artist wlio can see sucli beauty 
in a landscape, when to the layman it exists 
only half appreciated. 

Another interesting feature about it is 
the way it attracts the birds. They seem 
to delight in its mysterious pictures, and 
are frequently to be seen hovering about it 
like a moth around a lamp. " Place me 
right and I will show the garden's beauty 
that you don't know " is an inscription that 
might well be placed on the base of one 
of these globes. Those that are pictured 
here are mounted on pedestals of composi- 
tion stone that have been cast from moulds. 
The writer remembers seeing one of these 
balls in an old English garden seven years 
ago. It made such a pleasant impression 
that he determined at the time to get one if 
possible, but hunted in vain for a shop that 
sold them. Only recently a glass manu- 
facturer was found who said he could make 
such a globe, — in fact, he recalled making 

90 




o 



o 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

a few, years ago, for some old Colonial 
gardens, but where they went he could not 
remember. The globe was made and taken 
home with pride, and was mounted in front 
of a rustic summer-house, as shown on 
page 93. Here it has stood for two years, 
— a most satisfactory piece of garden orna- 
ment that is ever changing in color at 
Mother Nature's bidding. It has been 
admired by many, and similar ones have 
been placed in a few gardens in the suburbs 
of Boston. 

This globe is round, made of thick glass, 
with mercury on the inside, and may be 
placed on a stone or wooden pedestal. 
It should not occupy too prominent a 
position in the landscape, for it is so con- 
spicuous as to overpower tlie subtle beauty 
of the surroundings. Like many choice 
garden pieces its beauty is enhanced if 
subordinate to the garden setting. 



92 




A Garden Gazing-globe 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 
LANTERNS 

Stone lanterns have been used for cen- 
turies by the Japanese and Chinese, and 
very pretty features they are in the day- 
time as well as at night, when they cast 
a soft light over some quiet corner of 
the garden. Strange that only recently 
has the value of a lantern of this nature 
been appreciated in our gardens. We 
have used many other ornaments that 
had less excuse for being, while the pos- 
sibilities of this quaint accessory remained 
undeveloped. 

Because it is of Japanese origin is no 
reason why it should not be used in 
American gardens, provided it is of good 
design and occupies a position where if 
lighted at night it would serve the pur- 
pose of marking an entrance, or a path, 
or some interesting little peninsula of a 
garden pond. If used in this way with 

94. 




o 



CQ 



Ui 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

water it may look particularly well, for 
the reflection will give a note of added 
interest. 

The Japanese are greatly attached to 
their old lanterns, some of which have 
been handed down in families for centu- 
ries. Many are carved with mottoes, of 
which a favorite wlien translated reads — 

"We contribute lioht to thee, O God." 

The stone carver's name and the date when 
the lantern was made are carved on the 
best old ones. Many were sent to Amer- 
ica during the Russian and .Japanese war. 
They were sold to importers at a very 
low price, so anxious were their owners 
to raise money. These lanterns are con- 
structed in many different designs. One 
of the Kasuga type is shown on page 95, 
— a beautiful old specimen that now looks 
very much at home in a little garden in 
Belmont. It is just inside an entrance 
96 




A Wrought Iron Lantern 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

archway, and when hghted at night is fas- 
cinating to watch from the veranda that 
overlooks the garden. In their native 
country they are hghted with small lamps 
that hold vegetable oil, but in some of our 
gardens it is convenient to have an elec- 
tric liofht bulb connected with an under- 
ground wire so the lantern may be lighted 
at will from some garden-house or arbor. 

SHISHI 

The Japanese have many garden ac- 
cessories carved out of stone that may be 
used to advantage in our gardens. These 
pieces often show carving of great merit, 
for the race has many skilful workers in 
stone. 

The illustration on page 99 shows a 
" Shishi " at the entrance to a garden. It 
is an interesting old piece of stone work, 
— a grotesque figure of an animal with 
a grinning lion's head and a body that 
98 

tOFC. 




A Japanase Shishi 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

resembles a dog. Placed where it is, as 
though guarding the entrance to the gar- 
den, it is very effective, as much different 
from the painted iron dog so often seen in 
similar locations as a well-sculptured statue 
differs from a store sign figure. The iron 
dog may have its place in tliis world, but 
it should be in front of a cast-iron foundry 
or junk shop. 

WELL HEADS 

In many of the gardens of American 
show places will be found richly sculp- 
tured capitals of classic columns, some- 
times wrongly called " Venetian well 
curbs" or "well heads." They are sup- 
posed to have come from Venice, where 
in truth it may be said there are no wells 
and consequently no well heads. Built 
upon piles and stone piers, Venice is 
undermined witli salt water. Hence all 
the fresh water has to be caught and 
stored in cisterns. 

100 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

The opening of these cisterns was gen- 
erally covered with a hollow circular piece 
of stone that serv^ed the purpose of pro- 
tection and at the same time allowed the 
water within to be of easy access. Old 
column capitals were hollowed out and 
placed over the cisterns. These capitals 
liave been used for well heads in other 
parts of Italy, and as such they served an 
excellent purpose. They were also often 
arranged to decorate gardens and court- 
yards, wherein they served as flower-pots 
or as pedestals for vases, statuary, and 
sun-dials. 

For the most part these capitals are rel- 
ics from ruined temples and monuments 
that were wantonly destroyed during the 
long period of the Renaissance. 

The greatest care must be exercised in 

placing these ancient pieces in American 

gardens. It may not be necessary that 

they should actually serve as well heads 

102 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

or cistern heads, but if used for other or- 
namental purposes they must appear to 
hav^e come into position ahnost of their 
own accord, as if in tlie course of their 
travels tliey had discovered for themselves 
a new purpose to which to devote their 
grace and beauty. 

The old well heads and well sweeps 
such as we have all seen in the typical 
American farmyards are rapidly disappear- 
ing from the countryside. What attractive 
features they might be in some modest 
gardens of old-fashioned flowers and box 
edging ! 

If you have ever helped yourself to a 
deep drink from one of those old sentinels 
of tlie farmyard after a hot walk over 
fields or dusty road, the memory of the 
old bucket bumping to the surface and 
spilling its precious burden on all sides 
will always remain. And the sparkling 
water, crisp as a bit of steel, — no " wine fit 
104 




Well Sweep in a New England Garden 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

for the gods " could have taken its place at 
that moment. 

FIGURES 

Although beautiful statuary is a fitting 
accessory for city parks and squares, wherein 
it is a stimulating moral example to man- 
kind, — particularly if a monument to some 
great man, — it should be used, if used at all, 
with the greatest reserve in gardens. We 
should demand that our garden be abso- 
lutely perfect in architectural feeling in 
order to be the fit setting for a beautiful 
statue. 

We have been so accustomed to see such 
chilly looking figures placed promiscuously 
on many private places that it is difficult to 
imagine their looking well anywhere. 

If a figure of marble, stone, or bronze is 
to give pleasure, it must be beautiful in 
itself, and, moreover, must be so placed 
in a garden as to look as though it had 
chosen its own abiding place, wherein to 
106 




Old Colonial Well House 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

spend a happy existence amid congenial 
surroundings. 

If your garden will stand a figure it will 
be best suited by one that is symbolic of 
some phase of outdoor life, — a Pan play- 
ing his pipes, or the bust of a Faun or 
Satyr in the form of a terminal piece, or a 
Hermes. Such were called those pieces 
of statuary that the Greeks and Romans 
fashioned on shaft-like pedestals. They 
are less suggestive of living forms than 
figures in their entirety. 

These terminal figures were used by the 
ancients as mile-stones and guide-posts, 
being placed at stated intervals by the 
roadside. 

The character of the figure should har- 
monize with the character of the garden. 
Dying gladiators and other " death agonies " 
would give such a discordant note as to 
ruin all the peaceful feeling that a garden 
might have. If, while walking about a 
108 




A Modern Well Head 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

garden in the peaceful dusk of twilight, 
you came suddenly across tlie gruesome 
figure of a warrior brandishing a weapon, 
you would experience a decided " creepy " 
sensation that would disgust you with the 
entire place. 

SEATS 

In a garden that is worthy of its name a 
seat of some sort is as important as a chair 
in a house. Your garden can never have 
an air of comfort without a resting place 
of some kind. There are many styles of 
seats that look well in our gardens, — seats 
that vary in importance from the simple 
wooden bench without a back to the 
elaborate circular exedra, as it is called in 
Italian gardens. 

There is hardly a limit to the number of 
designs suitable for this purpose, and yet 
how homely is the stereotyped affair of 
wood and iron, the variety so often seen 
in parks and public gardens. Although a 
110 








"*-'-«**4*. 




Old Capital used as Well Head 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

wooden seat of good shape may be more 
comfortable than one of marble or stone, it 
will not have the lasting qualities that are 
so much desired in out-of-door furniture. 
If, however, they are given the proper care 
by a coat of paint or varnish every year, 
and the legs allowed to rest on dry ground 
only, they should last a number of years ; 
but woodwork in the garden is too often 
neglected and allowed to decay. 

We sometimes hear the objection to a 
stone seat, that it is too cold to sit upon. 
As a matter of fact it is more likely to be 
just the opposite during the hot weather of 
summer. The Chinese and Japanese have 
always appreciated the ad\'antage of a cool 
seat, and even employ coolies in the garden 
to keep the stone bench tops swathed in 
cold water. 

Some excellent garden seats of a fair 
amount of toughness may be made of 
natural wood with the bark left on. " A 
112 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

covered seat of red cedar " shows one that 
was made with a roof to keep out the sun. 
There are also some satisfactory seats of 
hickory sold by dealers to-day. They are 
designed after old patterns and are simply 
put together by bending the poles and 
branches of the hickory when green into 
the shape desired, and the bottom and 
back of the seat are woven out of strips 
of the inner bark of the same wood. Some 
of these chairs have as much grace of out- 
line as any piece of indoor furniture, but 
the detailed ornamentation is lacking, as 
is proper in outdoor pieces of this nature. 
Much reserve should be used in designing 
any garden seat, otherwise it will have a 
finical and gaudy look that would be out 
of place in the midst of garden refinement. 
A seat of some good material should 
be welcome in any garden, and if it can 
occupy some vantage point (preferably in 
the shade) from where a pleasing view of 
114 




//*«1.. 



Covered Seat of Ked Cedar 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

the surroundings may be obtained ; and if 
it can have a wall or hedge or a group of 
shrubbery for a background, it will be well 
placed, and will offer an irresistible invita- 
tion for one to rest and enjoy the beauty 
that the garden offers. 

TABLES 

A table serves a most useful purpose in 
a garden where one may spend some peace- 
ful moments with a book, or work leisurely 
among the flowers. There is often need of 
a convenient place upon which to place 
shears or other garden implements, or 
bunches of flowers while one gathers more 
or sits on a nearby bench to rest. 

There is no material quite so satisfactory 
for an outdoor table as marble or stone. 
Such a table has an air of stability, and can 
be made a permanent feature of a garden, 
the extreme changes in weather not caus- 
ing decay, as is the case with wood and 
116 




S3 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

other materials. If sufficiently massive, it 
may serve a double purpose, as a pedestal 
for the support of a suu-dial or garden vase. 
Tables for summer-houses do not re- 
quire to be so strongly made. Many of 
the so-called " Mission furniture " tables 
are admirable for this purpose, much more 
in keeping with garden surroundings than 
with the interiors of our homes. 

VASES 

Garden vases and pots appear to best 
advantage when placed on terrace walls at 
certain vantage points, or on buttresses 
by the side of steps, or at the angle at the 
intersection of walks. In such positions 
they serve to empliasize the design of the 
garden. Although their real purpose is to 
hold bay trees and other half-hardy plants, 
it is of no less importance that they should 
have a pleasing shape and be of such form 
as to harmonize with the surroundings, 
lis 




60 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

Too often this consideration is disregarded, 
as when we see a homely vase of iron oc- 
cupying a prominent position on a lawn in 
such a manner as to attract one's entire 
attention to its obtrusiveness. 

It is a most encouraging sign of the ad- 
vancement of garden art that most of the 
vases for out-of-door use that are being 
designed to-day are on simple lines, similar 
in shape to the plain garden pots that have 
long been in use in the old world gardens 
for the planting out of small lemon trees 
and other half-hardy plants. 

There are many other vases, similar in 
shape to the old oil and wine jars, whose 
direct form and lack of superfluous orna- 
mentation make them desirable for gardens. 

Garden lovers have long appreciated the 
beauty of this type of jar that is still fash- 
ioned in the home-made kilns in many 
vineyards of Italy, and may be bought 
when empty of wine dealers for a few 
120 




Pi 



P5 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

francs. JNIany of these jars find their way 
to America and appear to good advantage 
in our gardens. 

Altliough the origin of the pottery in- 
dustry dates back to the early Egyptians, 
not until recently has this kind of terra 
cotta work developed to a degree of structu- 
ral perfection that makes it tough enough 
to withstand the severity of our North 
American winters. It has remained for 
our home industries to produce a garden 
vase that may be left out all winter with- 
out fear of its breaking to pieces. This is 
an important achievement, for we want our 
gardens to be permanent in as many details 
as possible. Their appearance in winter is 
as important to the garden enthusiast as it 
is in summer. 

Garden vases that are made of terra 

cotta, freestone, or composition stone do 

not need more protection in winter than a 

temporary cover, large enough to keep out 

122 




A Concrete Garden Table 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

the snow and water. Tliis precaution will 
keep the ice from breaking them. 

BIRD-HOUSES 

If one is not fortunate enough to have 
birds make a home in the garden, they may 
be encouraged by having suitable bird- 
houses erected on tall poles like the one 
shown in the illustration on page 5. 

How different this is from the ordinary 
type of miniature tenement house that is 
sometimes seen cocked over to one side on 
a flimsy pole and occupied by that odious 
bird, the English sparrow. Like any other 
bit of garden accessory tlie bird-house may 
be a success if of good design, and if it 
serves its purpose. Some care must be 
exercised to keep out the English sparrows 
until the migratory birds take possession. 
This can be successfully accomplished by 
tearing down tlie nests as soon as the 
sparrows start to build in the spring. 
124 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

Bluebirds and the small purple martins 
take very kindly to this sort of a home, and 
when they have once taken possession are 
not to be turned out by the unfriendly 
English sparrows. The martins and spar- 
rows often have strenuous fights, but the 
former invariably come out the winners ; 
possibly because they take to nesting 
earlier in the season than the sparrows, 
and being already in possession fight all 
the harder to protect their homes. Every 
year these little birds can be counted on to 
come to the suburbs about Boston between 
the tenth and fifteenth of April, no matter 
whether the season is backward or forward. 

A dove-cote is also a type of bird-house 
that is most interesting in a garden. The 
illustration on page 187 shows one that 
is a charming feature in a typical Ameri- 
can garden in Cohasset, Massachusetts. 
Mounted on a simple column of field stone 
it stands at one end of the garden in a 
V26 




A Garden Vase 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

sheltered position, an ideal home for the 
fantailed pigeons that strut around its 
pia/za, like sentinels keeping guard over 
the garden's welfare. The inverted oil 
bottle that surmounts the roof serves the 
purpose of frightening away the hawks that 
persistently carried off tlie squabs and some- 
times the old birds. It is peculiar that tliis 
small bit of transparent glass should prove 
such a successful defence, but the hawks 
are as much afraid of it as they are of a 
gun barrel glistening in the sun. 

Many old Colonial gardens had dove- 
cotes. The colonists revelled in the free- 
dom that allowed them to raise pigeons. 
In tlie old country the keeping of these 
birds was confined to the lords of the 
manor and to members of royalty. All 
other persons were liable to heavy fines 
and imprisonment if they raised pigeons. 

Aside from the enjoyment that comes 
from liaving birds in a garden, they are 
128 




A Copper Vase 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

most valuable in keeping down insects, 
and should be encouratjed by every means 
possible to make their homes in the trees 
and shrubs as well as in houses especially 
made for them. Catbirds are particularly 
happy in a garden, and the same pair will 
return year after year to nest in their old 
haunts and fill the air with beautiful song 
that is almost as delightful as that of the 
mocking bird. A small bird bath made 
in the cre\'ice of a rock or a small artificial 
pool will prove a great attraction for them 
as also for other song-birds. 

BEE SKEPES 

Bees are also desirable companions for 
a garden. In days gone by there was 
scarcely a garden that did not have its 
bee-hives, although they were seldom val- 
ued as ornamental accessories, but were 
prized for the precious food they contrib- 
uted to the housewife's larder, w^here honey 
130 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

was used in combination with many pre- 
serves and goodies. However, some of 
these hives that were made in a rounded 
form of twisted straw and rope, that gave 
to them the name of " skepes," were most 
picturesque. 

It is easy to picture some of our modern 
gardens in which these bee skepes would 
prove attractive additions, and now that 
there is a species of honey bee tliat is 
stingless, tliese httle liomes of industrial 
activity would be of wonderful interest. 

The writer knows a house in London on 
a street that fjices Hyde Park where bees 
are kept in a glass hive in the living room. 
This hive is connected with a small pipe 
that passes through the wall of the house 
so the bees have easy access to the open 
air, and can go at will to gather honey 
from the flowers in the park. 

There may be other accessories besides 
those mentioned in these pages that would 
132 




Hydrangeas in a Stone Vase 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

be useful and ornamental additions to a 
garden. There are many little gardens 
wliere some permanent object like a sun- 
dial or fountain serves as a keynote to the 
entire situation, around which paths and 
flower-beds are arranged in a inanner to 
make an agreeable picture of the whole. 

At the intersection of paths, at the end 
of a walk or arbor, or in front of a summer- 
house, are some of the situations where 
these pieces may be placed so as to give 
one the impression that they must be 
where they are, or else the garden would 
lose much of its charm. 



134 



CHAPTER VI 

FOUNTAINS AND. POOLS 

WHAT can give to a garden a more 
living charm than a fountain or 
a small pool, reflecting sky and 
flowers on its sparkling surface ? Ever 
changing in form and color, the fountain 
is as much a living thing as the surround- 
ing flowers that set off" its beauty. More- 
over, it has an air of permanency that the 
flowers have not. 

We must regret that water for the sake 
of its beauty is not inore extensively used 
in gardens. The only practical objections 
are the difficulties sometimes encountered 
in finding a suitable supply, and the fact 
that mosquitoes breed in it. However, 
most country places have water in suf- 
135 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

ficient quantity, either in the shape of 
springs and wells or brooks that may be 
tapped with a pipe. In towns where there 
is a public supply one can generally obtain 
a special rate for a fountain, but even if 
the water is metred at the regular rates, 
a simple stopcock fixture may be used for 
turning it on and off, and the fountain's 
beauty can take tlie form of a placid pool 
when there is no water gushing forth. 

As for mosquitoes, there need be no fear 
of their breeding in a garden pond or foun- 
tain if there are a few fish in tlie water, for 
it is a well known fact that mosquitoes' 
larvie will be eaten by them as fast as the 
eggs are hatched. As for other water- 
loving insects together with the turtles, 
frogs, and toads and their like, they form 
a part of the pool's household that give it 
an added interest. 

A simple little garden pond that has 
many practical features is illustrated on 
136 




Dove-tote on a Column of Field-stone 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

page 145. A description of it will serve 
to show a good method of building and 
caring for garden pools of this nature. It 
is the central feature of a small garden 
that is only about one hundred feet square. 
The pool is elliptical in shape about ten 
feet wide and thirty feet long. It has no 
curb showing between the water and the 
open grass border around it. The turf 
comes right to the water's edge in a nat- 
ural way that is simple and refreshing. 
The supply that is in the centre throws 
a single stream straight into the air, and 
is controlled by a stopcock on the edge 
of the bank. The sides of the pool have 
vertical walls of field stone set in cement, 
and the face of the walls is grouted^ 
(covered with two inches of the same ma- 
terial). The bottom is made of concrete, 
quite level except for a slight pitch to the 
outlet pipe, so, if necessary, all the water 
may be drained off at any time. The pool 
1!58 




w 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

is three feet deep and tlie water is allowed 
to remain in it all the year round ; but 
during the winter it is covered with boards 
and brush and seaweed or meadow hay, 
so that it never freezes hard enough to 
harm the water-lilies and rushes that are 
planted in tubs and allowed to remain on 
the bottom. This method of raising water- 
plants is most successful, for they can be 
easily handled and the plants held in check 
from taking up too much space, as they 
are sure to do in a pond where they grow 
directly on the bottom. jNIoreover, the 
water is not discolored by the mud in 
which they grow, for the tubs keep it from 
being stirred up. 

The water level of this pool conies within 
an incli or two of the ground le^ el, and that 
is one of its attractive featm-es. There is 
no apparent stiffness of the stone curb, and 
this is a point that should be borne in mind 
when regulating the height of water of any 
140 




A Bird Fountain 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

basin. It is most effective to have the 
water level come close to the level of 
the top. It gives a much more natural 
appearance than to have a stiff curb 
showing. 

In building a pool or fountain in any 
part of our country where the winters are 
severe, we must not lose sight of the fact 
that all such work must have solid founda- 
tions below the frost line, and the shut-off 
that controls the supply must be lower 
than the outlet of the water jet. This is 
to insure the entire running off of the water 
so that there will be none of it left to freeze 
in the pipe and burst it open. However, 
in the pool itself the water may freeze with- 
out doing any harm provided the sides are 
not vertical but shelving, so that the ice 
may have room to expand and thus not 
crack the walls. Nothing could be more 
provoking than a water basin of any de- 
scription that will not hold water. This 
142 




CQ 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

is a common fault with many little ponds 
built on naturalistic lines. It is difficult to 
make the irregular banks water-tight unless 
a great deal of cement is used, and if one 
uses much cement the pond ceases to look 
natural. Sometimes puddled clay is used 
for this purpose, but it is never very sat- 
isfactory, for it discolors the water and 
gradually washes away. 

A garden pool is most satisfactory if 
treated frankly as an artificial accessory 
and made on symmetrical lines. It is 
most difficult to make a natural pond 
whose naturalness will not look forced. 
Too often we see tliem with shores broken 
up into into many meaningless bays and 
miniature promontories, with natural rocks 
sticking out promiscuously. Large ponds 
for public parks and estates of some size 
may in truth be very effective if modelled 
after natural lines, but their shape should 

be of the simple sort, for the chief charm of 
144 




I 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

any sheet of water lies in the water itself, 
its refresliing appearance and beautiful re- 
flections. The very appearance of w^ater 
in a garden produces a cooling effect ; and 
if in addition one can hear the musical 
splashing of water, the impression is indeed 
magical. 

The aesthetic beauty of spouting water 
has ever been appreciated by garden lovers. 
It is safe to say that fountains have been in 
existence since the history of the world 
began, and some have been elaborate archi- 
tectural achievements, such as the beautiful 
examples of the Italian Renaissance that 
are still to be seen in the ancient villas of 
Italy, or those of more modern gorgeous- 
ness built by La Notre in the gardens 
of I^ouis XIV at A^ersailles, — veritable 
geysers that cool the air of the entire 
garden. 

There is no part of garden architecture 
that offers a wider field for the play of the 
146 




Rocky Pool on Terrace 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

artist's imagination than tlie designing of 
fountains ; but he should never lose sight 
of the fact that the interesting moti\^e is 
the water itself, and if figures of water gods 
and horses, nymphs or dolphins, are used 
they must be made to take a subordinate 
position to the fountain as a whole. 

Few gardens are of sufficient grandeur 
to support fountains with statuary, l^ut we 
see many such in modest surroundings, and 
they invariably look out of place, particu- 
larly so if of the flimsy iron construction 
so common in public grounds. A modest 
little basin of concrete with one simple jet 
as illustrated on the next page is quite as 
effective as a more elaborate fountain of 
bronze and marble. Nothing could be 
more effective in a little garden, and if the 
spouting water can be seen in partial shade 
and sunlight it will sparkle in a most re- 
freshing manner and spread an air of 
comfort and cheerfulness over all. 
148 




A Simple Concrete Fountain 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

The illustration of " A wall fountain and 
pool " shows how a little water may be 
made to go a long way. A single stream 
comes through the terrace wall in a pipe 
whose outlet is the mouth of a stone lion's 
head. The water is caught in ajar, then 
passes on through the side, falling into 
an underground pipe that takes it to the 
little pool seen in the foreground ; from 
here it runs to the terrace below, where 
it irrigates a rock garden of ferns and 
wild-flowers. 

Another fountain of simple construction 
may be seen on page 153. It is made of 
field stone with a cement lining. The 
stones were carefully selected from old 
nearby walls, and great care was used in 
their selection and handling so that only 
those with fiat and weather-beaten surfaces 
might be used. 

It was a difficult matter to design this 
fountain so that it would have the right 
150 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

degree of architectural significance. The 
aim was to give it as much character as 
possible with the medium used, — field 
stone. The common practice in work of 
this nature seems to be a striving for the 
rustic^ and the result is generally a pile of 
stones in a fantastic arrangement that some 
misguided person considers pretty 1 Noth- 
ing could be more out of place in a garden 
that has any semblance of symmetry. A 
rough arrangement of rocks is permissible 
for a cascade in a natural bit of country, 
or for a grotto spring, but it has no place 
on well kept grounds. 

The fountain as shown in the picture 
consists of two circular terraced pools, the 
smaller above the larger and the upper one 
surmounted by a large column-shaped 
rock that supports a shallow shell-like 
stone. From the centre of this stone the 
water spurts vertically into the air and 
returns to fjill onto the upper pool and 
152 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

from that to the lower. By this arrange- 
ment the water is a most conspicuous 
feature, for it starts from a single head and 
is diverted into se\'eral smaller spouts that 
pass it on to the pool below. The rock 
work is so arranged that small bog plants 
as well as water plants can be grown. 
Beneath the upper pool is a small shelf that 
is protected from the dripping water by 
the overhanging rock. The chinks of this 
shelf are filled with rich loam muck, and in 
it the bog plants are growing. 

The illustration does not show the foun- 
tain in a particularly fine setting, but this is 
because the garden that surrounds it is in 
its infancy. To many, a garden amounts 
to nothing unless it can be seen in all its 
glory. The average person cannot wait 
for Nature's assistance to make the vegeta- 
tion grow. They must have a garden made 
to order, and expect to see it the first 
year as beautiful as tlie landscape architect 
154 




A Rockery Fountain 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

saw it when in his mind he composed the 
charming possibihties of the scene. 

None of us, to be sure, would care to plan 
gardens so far in advance that it would take 
years for them to mature, as was the case 
with those wonderful gardens of Italy, that 
required a century to reach the lieight of 
their glory. To-day it is possible, if one 
has the means, to produce a garden in all 
its entirety in an incredibly short time. 
Large full-grown plants and huge trees are 
supplied by nurserymen, and with the com- 
bined efforts of gardeners, masons, team- 
sters, and their kin, the garden springs into 
being as by the wave of a magic wand. 

But most of us take pleasure and pride 
in nursing our gardens to maturity. With- 
out this personal care, or at least without 
this personal supervision of the garden's 
welfare, it cannot be the truly satisfying 
intimate garden we would have it. If 
plants of moderate size and well established 
15() 




o 



o 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

trees are used in the beginning, and if care- 
ful thought is given to the selection of the 
garden's accessories, we may liave in tliree 
or foin- years a wealth of beauty that will 
surpass our fondest dreams. 

A word concerning tlie planting of water 
gardens, /. c, as much care should be given 
to the arrangement of plants in water as on 
land. Planting should be for mass effects. 
Separate colors will look best when grouped 
by themselves, and no plants should be al- 
lowed to grow so thick as to cover too 
much the surface of the water, for the 
water is a necessary frame to enhance the 
beauty of the flowers. 

One can rely safely on the descriptions 
and rules for planting that are given by 
reliable nursery catalogues and seed stores. 
The best known varieties, both tender and 
hardy, are handled by most plant dealers. 



158 




An EiFective Wall Fountain 



CHAPTER VII 

ENCLOSURES 

UNDER the heading of enclosures 
we may class such permanent ac- 
cessories as walls, balustrades, and 
fences. 

WALLS 

Boundary walls and terrace walls are to 
a garden what walls are to a house. Their 
excuse for being is the privacy, protection, 
or support they give. To many persons a 
garden is not satisfying unless it is enclosed 
in some manner. Surely a wall or fence, 
or even a hedge is absolutely necessary if 
the garden is to have an air of restful 
beauty ; but sometimes Nature may be a 
wonderful aid in accomplishing this result 
by bounding a desirable spot for a garden 
with a natural ledge or the steep slope of a 
163 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

hill, or with a tliick growth of trees and 
shrubbery. 

The chief charm of a sunken garden is 
the air of seclusion that conies from its 
being hedged with an enclosure of sloping 
ground iind terraces. But a garden of this 
type may look most artificial and cold if it 
resembles in any degree a huge pit that 
does not conform to the general contour 
of the surrounding land. 

Aside from the air of seclusion that a 
garden wall gives it serves a most useful 
purpose in protecting plants from severe 
winds. AValls are an ideal support for 
vines and climbers, and may be used for 
the training of fruit trees flat against its 
surface. One should regret that this cus- 
tom of fruit raising has become almost a 
lost art in our country. Its real purpose 
was to hasten the fruit to maturity ; often 
as much as two weeks being gained be- 
cause of the extra lieat caught by the wall. 
164 




o 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

Trees are still trained this way in wall 
gardens in England and France, and some 
attractive examples are still to be found in 
our latter-day Colonial gardens, but there 
is no longer any particular reason for the 
forcing process, except for the satisfaction of 
having one's own fruit ahead of its natural 
time, — we have become so accustomed to 
having all fruit out of season. Our South- 
ern fruits and vegetables are almost as ac- 
cessible as those of home raising. But 
aside from the practicability of this fasci- 
nating sort of wall garden, its continuance 
should be encouraged because of the pleas- 
ure this picturesque feature gives all who 
have the good fortune to own or to visit a 
garden of this nature. 

And how effective flowers and vines look 
with a wall for a background, or rather 
how effective is a wall that has a setting of 
flowers and \ ines ! All stones are suitable 
for walls. Those from our native quarries 
166 




Peach-trees on a Brick Wall 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

are of many shades of gray, a harmonious 
neutral color that blends with all flowers 
and foliage. Red brick, however, does not 
harmonize with all colors, particularly with 
some shades of pink and red, but it is very 
attractive with the green foliage of climb- 
ing Aines. In fact all walls are iinproved 
in appearance by having some greenery 
creeping over them, but we should never 
allow them to become completely covered 
unless they are of bad design. Any struc- 
ture that has architectural merit deserves 
to be seen at least in part. It has been 
said that vines are to bits of architecture 
what a dress is to a woman. It may serve 
to enhance beauty or to cover defects. 
The three best vines for this purpose are 
Euonymus Radicans Trailing Euonymus), 
Ampelopsis Englemannii (Clinging AVood- 
bine), Ampelopsis Veitcliii (Boston Ivy). 

Field stones in their natural sliape may 
be fashioned into a wall in many attractive 
168 




Di 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

ways. What a wealth of beauty there is 
to some of the old New England farm 
walls that stand forth, a striking proof of 
the earnest toil of the old settlers who 
collected them from fields so as to facilitate 
the culti^ ation of their crops ! In these 
rough-laid walls there is an indi\idual 
charm about each stone, — a charm that is 
not apparent to the average person who is 
interested, if interested at all, only in the 
general appearance of sucli a structure. 
So it is with many of the beautiful things 
around us ; we fail to appreciate them until 
by careful study their hidden beauties are 
revealed, and then whenever we chance 
upon them we feel we have met a friend. 
INIany people have this friendly apprecia- 
tion for trees, and they are to be envied, 
for those who know Nature's children get 
much more happiness out of life than those 
who fail to appreciate the value of such 
friendships. 

170 




A Garden enclosed with a Wall of Field-stone 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

As an enclosure for some gardens nothing 
could look more fitting than one modelled 
after tlie lines of these old dry-laid walls, 
but there is a vast difference in the appear- 
ance of these stone fences, as they are fre- 
quently called. Some are merely tumbled 
together, while others show the beauty of 
skilful workmanship. 

A dry-laid wall is one in which the 
stones are fitted together without the aid 
of cement and mortar. Unless well built 
it is not so strong a structure as one that 
is stuck together and pointed, but it is 
generally much more pleasing to look at, 
for each stone has a deptli of beauty, and 
they all blend together naturally without 
being blocked off in set, checker-board 
squares, as is the case with a pointed 
mortar wall. 

If a wall is made three or four feet thick 
and is put together with mortar only in 
the middle, allowing the outside surfaces 
172 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

of the stones to lie naturally one against 
the other, it will combine the two best 
qualities, — the strength and beauty of both 
kinds of walls. The great fault of many of 
the field stone walls that are built to-day 
is the fact that the details of their construc- 
tion are left to the stone mason to decide 
on, and in his desire to make the wall look 
prettii he concentrates his energies into 
making fanciful markings of mortar (often 
highly colored) around each stone, so that 
the finished product looks more like a crazy- 
quilt than anything else. 

When a wall is made of small, round 
shaped stones it is difficult to get a pleas- 
ing effect on the surface. Great care must 
be exercised in fitting together the sin-face 
stones so that the face of the wall shall 
be as smooth as possible without showing 
the mortar to an objectionable extent. If 
the stones are not fitted closely together the 
results will be like a huge plum cake, — 
174 




Concrete Garden Wall 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

each stone sticking out by itself with a 
monotonous sameness. 

All garden walls need a capping of some 
sort in order to give them a finished ap- 
pearance. If the wall is of field stone one 
may use large flat stones of the same nature, 
or pieces of rough quarried granite like 
that shown on page 169, or the wall may 
be capped with wood as shown on page 107. 
A brick wall needs a dressed stone that 
shall be in keeping with the smooth texture 
of the bricks, or a cap may be formed of 
the bricks themselves or of wood. INIany 
of the old Colonial brick walls were capped 
with a low picket fence, and it makes a very 
happy coinbination. Blue stone is often 
used for this purpose, but it has few quali- 
ties to recommend it. It is cold and unin- 
teresting. A capping of concrete is of much 
better texture and about one quarter as 
expensive. 



176 




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THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 
TERRACES 

Many gardens have to be built on a hill- 
side, and none could be more attractive 
than when it is made to fit the sloping 
ground by the aid of terrace walls. A 
garden made on different levels has a great 
advantage over one laid out on a flat sur- 
face, for it presents so many different points 
of view from which one may see it up and 
down and in various charming perspectives. 
In such a garden terrace walls and flights 
of steps are a necessity, but they are often 
poorly imitated by having steep grass 
slopes in place of the walls. These awk- 
ward banks can have but one excuse for 
being : they are less expensive to build 
than retaining walls ; but their cost for 
repair and labor in cutting the grass is a 
thousand times more. It is safe to say 
that no real lover of gardens would toler- 
ate such a waste of good gardening space. 
178 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

— space that might be a moss-covered wall 
with flowering rock phmts and clinging 
vines. At all events, if such a bank must 
of necessity exist, let it be covered with 
flowering vines and dwarf plants tliat wiU 
clothe its nakedness and give the gardener, 
who must be a contortionist in order to cut 
the grass, a cause to rejoice. 

A terrace wall may have as much vari- 
ety in form and color as the very garden 
itself, and if constructed so tliat its surface 
cracks connect with pockets of loam inside 
the wall it may be made to flower as a 
veritable flower-bed. This sort of diy wall 
terrace must be carefully planned and ex- 
ecuted if it is to grow other than the true 
rock-loving plants. It must be sufliciently 
thick to retain the soil behind it and to 
prevent the frost from throwing it out in 
severe weather. The higher the wall the 
thicker it must be in proportion. It is 
most important, however, if a wall is to 
180 




o 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

grow plants in its crevices, to have the 
rocks that are on the face of the wall slope 
with the upper surfaces on a pitch toward 
the back. This M^ill insure a collection of 
moisture inside, for the rainwater that falls 
over the wall will be turned back into it 
instead of thrown off, and in dry spells the 
wall may be watered with a hose and the 
water caught in the same manner. 

In England the moistiu'c-laden air makes 
it possible for a countless number of plants 
to be grown in walls of this nature, but in 
our country the field is more limited, and 
we must content ourselves with less va- 
rieties and rely upon dressing our ter- 
race walls to some extent with vines and 
climbers. 

If one will but give a little time and 
thouglit to the decorative possibilities of 
a wall it can be made as much a living 
thing of warmth and color as any other 
accessory of the garden. No matter where 
182 




pq 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

its location, whether in the sun or shade, 
it may be an ideal home for some phmt 
that requires just the exposure for its full- 
est de\ elopment. 

BALUSTRADES 

Balustrades of stone or other less ex- 
pensive material like concrete, brick or 
wood, are often necessary for surmounting 
a terrace wall in order to give an air of 
security and to prevent one from walking 
over the edge. This sort of garden acces- 
sory lends itself to a variety of architec- 
tural designs, and it may be elaborate or 
simple according to the degree of formal- 
ity of the garden. A simple but effective 
balustrade of concrete is shown in the il- 
lustration of a city backyard garden on 
page 199. 

A balustrade should never have the 
appearance of being weak. It must look 
as though strongly anchored to its base, 
184 




Balustrade and Vases, Wellesley, Massachusetts 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

and each baluster should not be farther 
from its neighbor than the distance of its 
own diameter ; and if the entire structure 
has a run of many feet its look of same- 
ness is best relieved by piers being intro- 
duced every eight or ten feet. 

FENCES 

By far the simplest type of garden en- 
closure is the picket fence or the fence of 
palings. This sort of fence originated in 
gardens some time in the sixteenth cen- 
tury. Beautiful examples are to be found 
in our old Colonial gardens. Of pleasing 
and simple lines, it served its purpose 
admirably. It was generally painted white 
or was whitewashed, and a more effective 
color it would be difficult to find, al- 
though examples are to be found where 
some misguided person, thinking to make 
it fancy ^ has used various colors and 
painted the posts one color and the palings 
186 








A Modern Fence built on Colonial Lines 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

and rails another. Sometimes these fences 
were quite high hke the one shown on 
page 187. This is of modern construction 
modelled on old lines, and a very cliarming 
one it is ; a fence that is a distinct aid to 
the setting of a inodest garden of a brick 
or wooden house built on Colonial lines. 
If a fence of this nature is set with large 
posts of red cedar, locust or chestnut, and 
these posts are treated witli a preservative 
mixture of creosote on that part that goes 
into the ground, it will not have to be re- 
paired for twenty or tliirty years ; a coat 
of paint for the palings every other year 
being the only treatment needed. 

Examples of good iron fences are rai'c, 
and this is not to be wondered at, for it 
must indeed take an artist to fashion one 
so as to have it appear in keeping with 
a private garden. A wrought-iron fence 
may be a thing of great beauty, an archi- 
tectural gem as much different from the 
188 




o 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

cast-iron affair as a chromo from a painting. 
Scarcely a more beautiful fence could be 
found than that which surrounds the col- 
lege yard at Harvard University ; but the 
garden that would have a similar enclo- 
sure must be of a dignified type on a large 
scale. 

What could be more ugly and cheerless 
than the common type of cast-iron fence 
so suggestive of cemeteries and cheerless 
front yards of our commercial towns, and 
the other hideous affair of gas pipe that one 
sometimes sees around a garden ? They 
can never look well unless completely 
smothered in vines and shrubbery. They 
should be sent with their friends, the fila- 
gree iron fountains and junk-like vases, to 
the refuse heap. 

It is surprising how varied are the uses 
to wiiich a garden fence or wall may be 
put. A city yard-garden needs to be en- 
closed, so does a garden in a wind-swept 
190 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

seashore location ; yet how iinhke the 
other is the setting of either. However, 
tliey both have the same common pur- 
pose : seclusion and the shutting out of 
obnoxious features. In both these cases 
the surrounding landscape plays a small 
part in making the garden picture. Tlie 
garden becomes a little world by itself, and 
it does not want the co-operation of any- 
thing outside. 

An enclosure for a seashore garden is 
shown on pjige 193. It is made of white 
cedar m ith the bark left on, and is quite 
rustic although built after a fixed design. 
Rustic work can be made very attractive 
for unpretentious little country gardens if 
only it is put together with some knowl- 
edge of what is good design and what is 
bad. But the general run of this work 
looks as though the person that made 
it tried to see how queer it could be 
done by throwing it together in natural 
192 




/^ 



o 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

fashion, and the result is a very bad imita- 
tion of something that Nature would not 
be guilty of. 

YARD-GARDENS 

A city yard-garden must of necessity 
have some enclosure in the shape of a wall 
or fence, and there are as many materials 
suitable for this purpose as there are for 
house building. There is no reason why 
the ugly, and for the most part untidy, 
backyards of our large cities should not be 
transformed into beautiful little gardens, — 
gardens that shall be of a truly architectu- 
ral type furnished with \ases, fountains, 
and other accessories, as were the city yard- 
gardens of the Romans and Pompeians. 

How incongruous that the well-to-do 
people of to-day, who are so fond of com- 
fort and refinement of living, shoidd toler- 
ate such conditions as exist for the most 
part at the rear of their city houses, — a 
194 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

collection of old barrels and boxes, shabby 
fences, and homely pavements, generally in 
full view of the dining-room and of the 
windows of the neighboring houses. The 
idea of making these backyards into gar- 
dens is practical. Pictures of some that 
have been successfully remodelled on these 
lines are shown in this book. 

Even in a space that is not more than 
twenty-five feet square and where there is 
scarcely room enough to screen the clothes- 
lines from the view^ from the house, there 
is sufficient space for an attractive garden, 
and the clothes may be dried in it without 
any harm. This process requires but a few 
hours each week, and the rest of the time 
the beauty of the garden need not be dis- 
turbed. The old Romans dried their tunics 
and togas in their little city gardens, and 
delightful little gardens they were, at the 
rear of the house ; an enclosure called the 
peristylium that was always surrounded 
196 




o 



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THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

with a wall and sometimes witli a colon- 
nade also. Here there was a small pool 
of water, vases, tables and statuary, and 
other ornaments to make the garden beau- 
tiful. We cannot do better than copy their 
old ideas, and though we may not care to 
spend much time in our city yard-garden 
because of its position at the rear of the 
house, we can at least enjoy looking at 
it, and if there is a fountain, listen with 
pleasure to the splashing water. 

If these gardens are to be satisfying to 
their owners, who for the most part are 
away during the summer months, they 
must be a combination of various archi- 
tectural features and small trees and vines 
that will look well in fall, winter and 
spring. Flowers will be of little ^'alue, 
except crocuses and other spring bulbs 
that may be grown in those yards that 
have much sunlight. 

'I'he illustration of a " Beacon Street 
198 




Corner in a City Yard-garden 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

garden, Boston," shows what a wonderful 
change may be made in a yard fifty-five 
feet long and twenty-five feet wide, by the 
use of a dignified fence, an arbor, a terrace 
wall and balustrade, and a few dwarf trees 
and green vines. A space is reserved next 
to the house for the drying of clothes and 
the convenience of a few barrels. These 
are not noticeable from the dining-room 
and bedrooms, for that part of the garden 
is at such a low level that one overlooks it 
and sees only the garden proper. 

The views of other city gardens show 
some that are much smaller, not more than 
twenty-five by thirty-five feet, and they 
point to the successful grouping of many 
garden accessories that look as happy as 
though in a larger suburban garden. 

One of the principal problems to be 

solved in these gardens is to construct an 

enclosure that shall be sufficiently high 

to shut out the undesirable view of the 

200 




ca 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

neighbors' yards without its looking in 
any way hke a " spite fence." But the 
greatest stumbHng block in all work of 
this nature is the attitude that most people 
take toward spending money for outdoor art. 
They think gardening is expensive, even 
though the entire work may cost little 
more than they are accustomed to spend 
in furnishincf one room of the house. 




OQQ 



CHAPTER VIII 

MATERIALS 

THE previous chapters have touched 
hghtly on the various materials 
suitable for garden accessories. 
Our country offers a wealtli of these ma- 
terials, in truth more adaptable to our 
requirements than imported marble and 
stone. What is needed is a proper under- 
standing of the art of fashioning them into 
objects of artistic value. 

All the materials of which houses are 
built (stone, brick, wood, concrete, terra- 
cotta and native marbles) offer themselves 
at every hand for the embellishment of 
gardens. If we but give as much thought 
to their development for this purpose as 
we do to buildings, they will take form fully 
as advanced in aesthetic beauty. But we 
203 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

have neglected these smaller things and 
eagerly search some foreign land for an 
ancient fountain, pedestal or garden pot. 
Alas ! these are fast giving out, and ma- 
chine-made pieces are crossing the ocean 
to satiate the desires of those who must 
have an Italian garden furnished with rare 
old ornaments found by chance in some 
unfrequented nook of the Old World. 

But the average garden of the person in 
moderate circumstances may be as beauti- 
ful in its way and have as many interesting 
accessories. If the owner can acquire some 
useful ornaments of domestic make, a sun- 
dial, a vase, a bench or some other fragment, 
and if these pieces are of recent manufac- 
ture it matters not, so long as they are of 
good design and are well placed in the 
garden. 

The appreciation of well designed garden 
accessories, which may be had at a reason- 
able cost, has led to the recent production 
204 




Modern Terra-cotta Garden Vase 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

of various pieces in terra-cotta and con- 
crete. These products of nature have been 
used by every nation, even by the Egyp- 
tians many centuries before Christ. Every 
race lias had its potteiy, — jars of moulded 
clay buvned in many colors ; and concrete 
for building purposes, was well understood 
by the Romans who made it out of a native 
cement to build aqueducts that are still in 
existence. But the art of fashioning con- 
crete into small ornamental accessories for 
the use of gardens has only recently been 
understood and appreciated. W^e are be- 
ginning to realize that cement has, in 
addition to its value for structural pur- 
poses, possibilities hitiierto undreamt of for 
development along artistic lines. 

There are many good reasons for using 
this material in gardens in preference to 
marble or freestone. In the first place it 
has the lasting qualities of flint. In fact, 
it grows harder year by year. Then, too, 
20G 




Reproduction in Concrete, — the de Medici Vase 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

it does not need any protection against 
the severest weather, freezing and thawing 
having no effect upon its rigidity. The 
color of this material in its natural gray 
cement shade is most pleasing, and seems 
to blend with out-of-door surroundings in 
a way whicli marble or newly cut stone 
does not. It takes on rapidly the soft and 
neutral color of the common field stone, 
and when made into some accessory of 
pleasing design, never seems to look out of 
place, as is often the case with imported 
marbles. 

Again, the cost of this material is reason- 
able. Garden benches, urns and pots, 
fountains, sun-dials, pedestals and the like 
may be had at a cost less than half of what 
they would be if carved from stone ; more- 
over, each piece is an exact reproduction of 
the original from which the cast was taken, 
but the products from the marble or stone 
cutter may be a poor copy. 
208 




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THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

Concrete can be readily fashioned into 
any form, just as plaster and clay that is 
fashioned into terra-cotta or bronze take 
on the form of the mould into which they 
are run. 

Some concrete is liable to form hair- 
cracks, or crazing cracks, on the surface 
soon after it is exposed to the M^eather ; 
but these do not imperil the strength of 
the material. They are fine cracks, hardly 
the size of a hair, both in depth and breadth. 
They are not a drawback to a garden piece, 
but rather seem to gi^ e it a look of age. 

There is no excuse for attempting to 
make concrete appear what it is not, any 
more than there is for disguising the ma- 
terial of which any object is made. The 
writer feels that he cannot insist too 
strongly on tliis point. Some attempts 
have been made to fashion it so as to 
imitate natural and rock-faced stone, but 
the results have been for the most part 
^10 




o 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

only pathetic. A horrible example of the 
abuse of cement is the block moulded in a 
wretched attempt to imitate rock-faced 
stone. Frequently these blocks appear of 
the color and texture of dried mud, the 
surface having the appearance of having 
been rubbed with a wet hand, and left 
utterly devoid of all life and sparkle. To 
such work as this is due the blame for the 
impression that cement lacks all possibilities 
for artistic manipulation. 

The appearance of the unfinished side or 
interior of these same blocks bears witness 
to the fact that cement does possess the 
very qualities which have been covered up 
on the exposed surface, — color and texture. 

The use of coloring matter in concrete 
ought not to be encouraged. Why should 
a more pleasing color than its natural shade 
be sought, especially if the product has the 
warm soft tone that a mixture of yellow 
sand gives it ? Besides, the use of color- 
'ZV2 




Concrete Vase and Garden Wall Panel 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

ini>' matter, unless handled b\' the most 
expert workman, is liable to make the 
mixture structurally weak. Surely con- 
crete has merit enough, from the artistic as 
well as from the structural point of view, 
to stand for itself. 

The art of gardening has gone hand in 
hand with the otlier arts of a country, — a 
reflection of the aesthetic side of mankind, 
an expression of beauty to comfort the 
senses of a mind that craves the gentle 
things in nature. Art out-of-doors has 
always reflected the temper of a country. 

Americans as a nation are just beginning 
to express their appreciation of the beauti- 
ful things that nature gives them. Mag- 
niflcent parks for public enjoyment are 
springing up everywhere, and in our private 
homes, life in the garden has become a 
necessity, and this life requires peace, 
comfort, refreshment and charm. 

Ah ! these hours spent in the garden : 
214 



THE GARDEN AND ITS ACCESSORIES 

they are glorious for all alike. AVe become 
children again, playing idly with some 
freshly picked flower, or tossing pebbles 
into a nearby pool. AVho cares for busi- 
ness, politics or the whirl of society in such 
times as these ? It is enough to be alive 
in the midst of such heavenly things. 




215 



NOV 24 1906 



